« by popular demand | Main | it's funny now »
February 23, 2005
me getting stuff done (productivity)
Krista posts about her productivity schedule now compared to before she was injured.
Here, again, a moment for me to pipe up: mothers are differently-abled beings. Now, I don't say this for sympathy (I'm over it, Mom). And I don't mean to say that mothers don't choose their lot as mothers (though some don't get to choose, really).
Once motherhood begins, though, the ability to DO FOR ONE'S SELF dwindles, especially when it comes to choosing what to do with one's time.
Krista's description of her before-injury schedule made me stop: do people really get to live like that? Where from the time you step from the shower, til the time you need to pause to feed yourself, you are virtually UNINTERRUPTED.
What does a usual work day look like for me? Well, I actually have TWO workdays. The homework day, and the schoolwork day.
The school work day, of which this semester I get two a week (T and TH), looks like this:
700 up, quick in-bathroom yoga, shower
730-830 (this X4 kids) feed, clean, dress, brush hair/teeth, pack lunches, find homework, find show-n-tell, find boots/coats, put on bus, leave for campus
930-1030 some sort of exercise, unless I have a deadline or committee meeting or mini-seminar
1030-1230 try to find somewhere to hide on campus where no one will bother me so I can read. Read, find lunch.
1230-200 research design class
200-500 network(ed) rhetorics class OR digital writing (the class I'm a TA for)
600-800 Brownie meeting, or board meeting, or trustees' meeting
800-1000 struggle to get kids to bed (sometimes VERY successful, sometimes NOT) Try to find something besides a frozen corn dog for dinner.
1000-1200 Read/work, fighting the urge to sleep the entire time
[Notice how NOT ONE bit of housework gets done on these days]
The other days, MWF, look like this:
700 up and MAYBE shower, or I might try to sleep an extra half hour
730-830 kids ready and off
900 take Jack to school
930-1130 Grocery shop, run errands
1200 get Jack from school
1230 feed boys, put Josh down for nap. Shower if I didn't that morning. Do dishes. Do laundry. Pick up toys. Try to read.
230 Josh wakes up (if I'm lucky, sometimes he only sleeps for 45 minutes). Play with him, let him do the dishes with me. Sneak in some email.
300-500 Get dinner ready. Do more laundry. Girls get home @330 so it's unpacking backpacks, breaking up arguments, making snacks, pick up, pick up, pick up.
600-800 Feed dinner; try to sneak out for a run. Do the bath relay. Read bedtime stories, get more snacks.
800 Collapse on couch with laptop to watch TV and blog. Shower if I got that run (lately I haven't been).
1000 Move to bed to "read for real," though now with the wireless it's getting harder to separate "real" from "not".
1200 Fall asleep; drool on Weinberger or whoever.
Weekends I get a little time at night to read, normally 2 ish hours, but nothing during the day. Saturdays we have dance until lunch, and then the afternoons are always too noisy to get anything but loud housework done. Sundays I try to train in the morning, and then I've used up the "me" time for that day, so again, I get very little work done.
If I'm calculating this correctly, I get about 18-20 hours of reading done a week. I am a slooow reader, too.
This is scary to me. I feel like there are going to have to be some big changes around here if I am ever going to get this degree done.
I have already decided that next fall I will not return as the Brownie leader. Three years I've logged--that's enough, right? Plus, I really should dump the committee work that I'm doing for a church that I haven't attended in over a year.
The good thing is: I am never bored. There is never a moment in my life where I think, "Hm, what can I do NOW?" And while the kids drive me stark raving mad (please can you NOT rollerblade in the house while drinking that milk!! please can you NOT take every clean bath towel and put it on the kitchen floor for an impromptu real-life frogger game!!), I need to stop and realize that I'm lucky. Nice house (little messy), good husband, good family, good friends, good support network (IRL, blogs) and Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon.
Posted by mryonker at February 23, 2005 08:57 PM
Comments
And let me say again, after aerobil, thank goodness I'm childless! No child deserves my lazy butthead ways...
Posted by: susansinclair at February 23, 2005 09:42 PM
Your life is crazy! But I think there is something to be said for *er* balance. I mean, it has to feel like your splitting in a million different directions sometimes, but you have multiple ways to spend your time. And for me, I think that balance is essential. So, yay for 2 hours of reading at a shot interrupted by dishwashing with baby!
Posted by: jenwingard at February 23, 2005 11:19 PM
Heh. Can I say as a woman who is mother only to 3 spoiled cats that I don't have anything like the amount of stuff to do that you do, and my work schedule has NEVER looked like Krista's?? (I do get to live relatively uninterrupted, but I find lots of ways to interrupt myself...)
Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway at February 24, 2005 12:32 AM
Yellowtail cabernet, my favorite. :)
Posted by: Laura (geekymom) at February 24, 2005 07:16 AM
Definitely three years leading a Brownie group is enough, M. All told, I gave three years to co-coaching Ph.'s soccer and another four years to running a full blown basketball club (even wound up with two teams bc I refused to cut sixth graders). In each situation, three years was the appropriate cut off. After that, I started feeling resentful of the time it took (considering the relatively fequent headaches). And now that I've stepped back from parental service, I am much more relaxed about Ph.'s activities, and he actually appreciates that I have somthing to contribute (when it comes to extracurriculars and sportsy stuff).
Posted by: Derek at February 24, 2005 07:41 AM
I only have one child, not three, but I can SO relate to your schedule. My days are nutty as well.
It's amazing how much of a luxury a shower becomes after you've had a kid, isn't it?
Posted by: ABDmom at February 24, 2005 10:04 AM
Michelle (JMP) and I have this conversation all the time, and I have all the respect in the world for parents who are also working on degrees. I don't think I could do it.
It's true that I do have zillions of uninterrupted hours, but I also give up all the payoffs you parents get - all the cuteness and love and Christmas mornings and family-ness of it all. What I get is Mister Boyfriend (who is lovely) and a big pile o' work. It's a choice I made and I'm happy with it, but it does have its downsides.
Posted by: Krista at February 24, 2005 11:43 AM
If your posts were all tech and responses to what other people write, it would not be nearly as interesting to me. If it weren't for your kids--all six of them--and the zoo that is your life, what in the world would you write about? Running with boogers hanging, doing yoga, writing? Oh, yeah. Writing about writing. Scotty, beam me back where the kids are!!
Posted by: bbmom at February 24, 2005 11:58 AM
I agree 100% with your Mom. I find your blog fascinating because of the family aspect. A couple of days ago my Mom asked if I regret not having kids. Never!!!! I'm too selfish and self-centered! When I read about your day(s), it re-enforces that my decision was right for me. Bless you for what you do for your family, in 20 years they'll look back and love you for it!
Posted by: hrbenni at February 24, 2005 07:13 PM
this is unrelated, but I put toothpaste on my face last night because of you! good tip.
Posted by: Anastasia at February 25, 2005 07:40 AM
Wow, you are actually able to ignore chaos long enough to read? And, you are able to read and not be lured to sleep by the sheer luck that you got to sit down for a minute! I think that alone deserves recognition. By the way, while you are doing all the running, where does Brian fit in? I am not sure why women "put" more in their schedules...let something go (like Brownies) to take care of YOU!
Posted by: Mary Ann Steinacker-Grimm at March 1, 2005 12:03 PM